Ancestry Cha-cha-changes

I was very happy to get an email today saying that Ancestry.com will now be the name of the parent company for all of their genealogical products and services. For two many years now we have been having to explain that Family Tree Maker is owned by Generations Network, or that Rootsweb was now Ancestry. It was confusing to me, and I’m sure, confusing to many other people. Especially those who are just joining one of the sites.

PROVO, UTAH – July 6, 2009 – The Generations Network, the world’s leading online family history resource, today announced that it is changing its name to Ancestry.com effective immediately.

“Our company has a long and fascinating history, and we’ve been through several name changes over the years. But we started with Ancestry.com, and it now feels completely natural to let our company once again share the Ancestry.com brand with our flagship product,” said Tim Sullivan, CEO, Ancestry.com. “We’re proud that Ancestry.com has developed as the defining online brand associated with family history. Alongside Ancestry.com, we will continue to support our other brands, including Family Tree Maker, myfamily.com, MyCanvas, Rootsweb, Genealogy.com, Jiapu.com and of course, our international Ancestry sites.”

Are they FREE or FEE?

What I would like to see on the Ancestry site is tabs for all the brand products or services, but denote which ones are free or you have to pay a fee. I think many people would like to know if adding their online family tree is something free they can do, even though Ancestry.com is noted for being a fee-based site.

They have been doing a great job of making the landing page more friendly and personal, I’ll give ‘em that. Right now, the way to get to any of the other sites is to go way down on the bottom of the front page and click on “other Generations Network sites” and a drop down menu appears. I’ll give them time on that though if they are consolidating.

This is only a friendly referral. I gain nothing from it other than good will and maybe a new genealogy friend or something. In an email from Dan Oaks today he alerted me to a pretty nifty sale on the FamilyLink Resource Kit.

Paul Allen is giving a 75% discount off his FamilyLink Genealogy Resource Kit. This is a truly unbelievable offer. Don’t forget to save 75% with coupon code: FamilyLink

I have included an image of the ad as it looks on the page you will be taken to using this link. There is a much more comprehensive explanation there.

I am unable to be completely impartial when it comes to genealogy software that you should use. I have only used Family Tree Maker, and that since I got online in 1994. I never had any complaint about FTM and it was always an easy program to use. For me, the big change came in 2008 when they changed the program for those using Vista. Or, at least that is my understanding of what happened. If you have better info, please comment.

All that said, I am using Family Tree Maker 2006 and still find it the easiest one for me to use. Yes, I am set in my ways, but I also subscribe to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” club. Perhaps, if you are happy using Vista (I use XP and prefer it, even choosing to buy my new computer with XP OS instead of Vista) and you begin using FTM’s current version, you might find it something to your liking because you haven’t used a prior version.

I did find a Genealogy Software Review 2008 that you might want to look over to help you make a decision. If you do decide to buy Family Tree Maker, I am an affiliate and you can use my link here.

One thing I would tell you is that it is important to register your FTM program when you first install it. You won’t get a lot of emails from Ancestry/Family Tree Maker, but it will alert you when there is an update. In order to save money, use your link in the Family Tree Maker program > Internet> Ancestry Website to upgrade. Ususally though, if you keep your email address updated with them, you will get an email from them too, letting you know you can save money as a prior purchaser when a new version comes out.